The Mercedes-Benz EQA Concept Looks Damn Good Driving In Sicily

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Will the production version look as good as this?

While dealing with potential legal troubles regarding one of its latest diesel engines, Mercedes-Benz is still very much moving forward with its all-electric vehicle plans, evidenced by the EQA concept, revealed at Frankfurt last September. It looked very good parked on the showroom floor, and Mercedes claimed the compact EV was equipped with a 60 kWh battery allowing for a 200 to 250 mile range. And now we finally get to see this sleek concept in action in this new video.

The chosen venue for this test drive of sorts was not some rainy German street, but rather the sunny and beautiful countryside of Sicily. What’s clear here is that this is a working prototype and not just a body shell.

That makes sense because Mercedes has committed itself to investing some $589 million at a production facility in France tasked with building the production-spec EQA. Currently, Smart cars are built there. The EQA is slated to be the first of the all-electric EQ lineup, followed by EQC SUV and, eventually, the S-Class-sized EQS sedan. The EQA will be aimed at the Tesla Model 3 while the other two EQ models will target (and this is not at all a coincidence) the Model X and Model S. After seeing the EQA concept in the flesh, we can confidentially say it looks great, which is reconfirmed by this Italian demonstration video.

It looks fast and it’s sleek, and we wouldn’t at all be surprised if the production version bears a very close resemblance to the concept. It’ll also be quite the performer, with a claimed 0-60 mph time of around 5 seconds. Mercedes adds the concept has a DC quick charging capability of adding 62 miles of range in only 10 minutes.